Mind had been blank for the last couple of days and hence I was finding it difficult to write or compose something down just for the mere lack of ideas…thought I will pick some tag that’s lying in many of the blogs that I religiously follow but then life plays this trick on you wherein you like it or not, it ends up giving you something to write about…

Well..

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1) Of late, thanks to the inflation we guys have started to cook dinner at home…yippee! Homely food so you may think…but no…It’s just food (edible of course) cooked at home…we have managed to learn and decently cook about 5-6 dishes, apart from the variety of rice items that we can make. But still the homely food that any of our mom’s would cook is far far better than our food cooked at home…one thing our food does to us, is controls our weight (we use minimal oil) as well as the disappearance of the few remaining coins in our pockets!! 😉

I basically end up doing all the vegetable chopping…ya am the “vegetarian butcher”…and due to over exposure to the brutality of chopping the vegetables, my eyes have either lost their sensitivity or have become terribly confused. For instance, I was butchering the onions and my eyes act perfectly fine…and after the onions were done with, it was the turn of the potatoes…what do my eyes do now?? They get over sensitive, over burdened, over loaded and cry…yes, the tears of a ‘vegetarian butcher’s joy’!!! phew! 😀

Cooking tip: Look into the eyes of the onion as you chop…it wont make you weep!! You peep, you weep!! 😛

2) Yesterday late night, around 12:30 I was busy watching a movie called “Dirty Deeds” (no…no…no…it’s not that kinda movie…pls :P) with the lights on (see I told you, it’s not that kinda reel) and what do I get to see (not on the screen)…Jerry…yes a mouse, a rodent…running happily on the floor of my bedroom…Now since I was one brave soul, I didn’t yell my guts out…I just ran out of my room to inform roomy #1 who was sitting in the hall, surfing…the hot news made him climb up his chair asking me “Where? Where??…How big? How many??”

His immediate action made me ignore him and knock on the bedroom door of my other 2 roommates…they were thankfully awake and didn’t cry foul…Roomy #2 joined #1 on the chair…but roomy #3 was one brave soul who immediately came with a broom in hand (I still feel like he slept with a broom in hand…if not, where the hell did he get it from?) asking the same “Where? Where?? How big? How many??” as if he was going on a hunt! 😛

#1 and #3 were so alike, yet miles apart…

Commander #3 and myself entered my room with a broom each in hand and ready for the kill…but I guess our Jerry had got enough time to escape from us, the Toms…He lives to see another day…probably more…

PJ time: What will Tom be called if he keeps looking here and there for Jerry?? – A peeping Tom!!

3) Today evening as I reached home from office past 8pm and closed the door behind me, I heard a knock. I opened to find my high and dry (not drunk, but definitely dry) house owner in front of my eyes…Being terrified, I said something which I should not have said…I said, “Come in, pls have a seat sir”!! OMG!!

He royally comes in and sits…just like an elephant does in a circus, on command from its ring-master. Only difference is that this dude of the 60’s doesn’t have a trunk, and ya a tail. Rest all are the same…big ears, protruding teeth, big bu*t and an indifferently big mouth!!

All his features are don’t matter much…The only and most annoying thing he does is talk with no fullstop, ask questions non-stop and park his base for an indefinite timing.

He tells me that he came cos it was raining outside…I didn’t know where outside, as outside my window it wasn’t raining for nuts! Hmm…my bad day I assumed. Nah! I was sure!! 😦

He starts off with a “Why is the stock market falling, when the tomato prices are rising?”

The best thing about him is that, he needs an answer to his questions…right or wrong, is never a concern. Initially I used to struggle to think of answers…but one day he himself gave me a clue by saying “Say something son”!!

I answered him with a “Tomato prices are rising cos the fuel prices have gone up…and stocks fall when crude oil prices increase”…am not sure even now if I am right…but he was ok with it!! 😀

I am meeting him today for like the 9th time in my 9th month in this house…and today he asked me my name, for the 9th time…then asked me my cell number…ya for the 9th time…the company I work for, yes 9th time again!!

But I have learnt the game…the hard way of course, but learnt nevertheless…

I asked about his daughter (“and sir, u said her name is??”) for the 9th time…I know he hated when I asked that, for the 9th time…I asked him about his son’s bank profile…9th time of course…got to know it’s the 2nd largest bank in the world for the 9th time…but I doubt…again for the 9th time…phew, and the show will continue I guess…hehe

Finally after about 2 hours…of which he brainwashed me for close to 90 minutes…he watched TV for 15 minutes…and also read the newspaper for 15 minutes before asking me “Can I take your leave??”…I was like “What? Now what does he want to take away?”…He understood that I didn’t get it, and so clarifies with a “Shall I leave??” and I smile big time with “Ofcourse, ya ya…pls”…and the mammoth disappears!! 😀

Food for thought: Life makes us experience all that we don’t ask for…yet we crave for something we don’t have…Hmmm…

I was free and at home the whole of today and so was Satish, my roommate. Two of the other roommates were out, Samik reporting to his boss at office and the dutiful husband in Udit reporting to his wife who stays at his native with his parents. Due to the recent inflation and removal of subsidy at lunch in the office, all four of us had decided to cook at home for dinner on weekdays and all times on weekends.

Its been 2 whole weeks now since the new arrangement and each one of us have voluntarily taken up certain responsibilities.

Samik cooks well…so he’s the official cook of the house now…
Udit is good at deciding what to be cooked and the combinations….believe me, its a tough job to decide whats to be done for that moment. And above that he does the weekly shopping too with Samik.
Satish is the laziest and uninterested among the lot…he can basically survive on chips, finger fries, et al. However we engage him in work that requires him to move less like cleaning of rice, cleaning the dining area (once he sits there), opening of packets (his fav.) etc…
And me, I love to see the vessels clean…so I do all the dish washing!! I am the scavenger of the pack!! 😉 Apart from this, I do the small shopping thats needed on a daily basis like getting milk, curds, eggs, and so on.

And today since our cook was at office, and the lazy fella was lying down and watching TV…the onus of preparing food fell on my irresponsible (cooking) shoulders!! Since we get up late, I knew that breakfast was taken care of…err skipped!! 😀
At 11am I went to the shopping mall to get small things and ending up getting ready-to-eat Dosa batter and Aloo Tikki (a potato based snack)!! 😀
On reaching home, we decided that we would have dosa for brunch (breakfast+lunch) as it was already 12 noon….I was skeptical cos I didnt remember the last time I had entered the kitchen with the task of having to prepare something…If it was just for me, I wouldn’t have bothered but there was that lazy food critic sitting outside waiting with an empty plate in his hand. And to beat it all, there were not much instructions on the packet that I bought…It just said, ready to eat….hmm…
I poured the batter into a clean (I washed it :P) bowl and mixed the paste using a clean large spoon. Since it looked thick, I even added water (and a little salt) before mixing it again. Meanwhile set the gas on fire, with a few drops of oil on the non-stick pan. Now was the most dreadful task in the waiting…It reminded me of a few one-liners I got to hear before I took over the kitchen…

“Hope your dosa will come out round, just like dosas are meant to be”
“I can’t recognize a dosa by taste…but only by shape”
“Which country do you design best on a non-stick pan?”
All these echoed in mind as I let the batter into the pan…the round shape of the pan, was a blessing in disguise. 😛

The first dosa came out like how Srilanka is…but I remembered my mom saying “sometimes the first ones act weird”! So I put it on a plate, meant for me…
The second was even worse…went to the dustbin…
And then there was some magic…I am saying so cos I didnt do anything…
The 3rd, 4th and 5th dosas…came out right and round…just like the bug sitting outside wanted and I happily dropped those into his plates….he said he wanted no more as he was full….what could be expected with the packet of chips he had side by side…sigh!
Then the magic disappeared just like it had appeared…
The remaining dosas took shapes which I cannot describe…but I wasnt bothered as far as the batter was cooked…I recognize by taste after-all!! 😀
The magic was more of a fate I think…else why would it stop when it was my turn?!!

Evening it was time for Aloo Tikki…I was excited…and there were instructions on the backside of the packet too…And I prepared as written on it…and it came out brown crispy delicious as it was printed on the packet…But the bug of a Satish had to comment….he didn’t like it….and he said it with a “I don’t like these kind of snacks”…If you see in the flashback, I had taken neat 10 minutes to explain him that Aloo tikki is a chaat snack…but sigh, his mind didnt pick it up I guess…lazy it must be too!! 😦 But the best part was that I got to eat his share too….damn the check on calorie count for the day…I promise to climb more stairs (and hereby go for more coffee breaks in office) to compensate!! 😀

And when it was dinner time….I was so relieved to find Samik back from office….that I started writing this post…he’s calling now to have my dinner…I have to wash dishes too later….So till next time, signing off!! 😀

It was early at 10am that I got up to the alarm and headed towards home. Today being a day off due to a festival (Ganesh Chaturthi) here in India, I had dozed off last night at my friend’s place in all spirits!! Chennai is facing power cuts these days…scheduled ones…and in my area its 9am to 10:30am as per the schedule. I called up my dad who celebrates his birthday today, wished him and spoke to him on a lot of things like his plans for the day, who wished him before me, who’ll visit him, whom will he touch base with, et al…and reached my home past 10:30am just avoiding the damn power cuts. I had plans to watch Farhan Akthar’s “Rock On” this noon at Sathyam Cinemas, my favorite multiplex in Chennai. So on reaching home, read the newspapers, updated all masala into the mind, got ready and headed to the multiplex…to be joined by friends (yeah not alone this time! 😀 ) just on time!! 🙂

Now to the movie…

Man…I have no words for the movie…do not dare to miss it…

It begins with my favourite song “Socha Hai”….and the story to a certain extent is about what had happened in the past…yeah 50%+ is in flashbacks…but well shot…it juggles between the present and the past…Its about 4 friends who had formed a rock band “Magik” (yeah Magic with a ‘K’…what else with a Kapoor behind the movie!! :P) in their earlier years which went on to be famous but never made it…hmmm…

Farhan Akthar (Adithya), Arjun Rampal (Joe), Luke Kenny (Rob) and Purab Kohli (Killer Drummer – KD) form the rock band and even go on to win a contract for their first music album after winning the V-Channel sponsored talent hunt. But politics, right-outta-books-ethics and real-life-attitudes make sure that they never make it to where they would have reached if they had been allowed to record what they were best at, rock music. They get disintegrated….loose touch…10 yrs pass by…

10 yrs can change a lot of things around…so it does with these 4 musicians….

Adithya, the vocalist…is now an investment banker…married to Sakshi (Prachi Desai) who is unaware of his previous rock-star image…is running in the rat race…living what he thinks is life…to be only made to realize his folly and reunite with his band by his now pregnant wife. Brilliant acting by Farhan…the rock-star image suits best on him, but he doesn’t fit the bill as an investment banker!! 🙂

Joe, the short-tempered lead guitarist…is now without a steady job….still plays guitar at small parties and get-togethers…married to his sweetheart played by Shahana Goswami (Deeksha I guess Debbie was her character’s name)…has an eight year old son…is more of a follower than a leader….emotional. Arjun has acted well, but looks artificial in some scenes…and among the 4, he has the gals drooling allover the most!! 😛

Rob, the long-haired keyboard player…is now a technician cum player who works for/with Anu Malik (of all ppl)…is single…loosing hair…and sick! Luke has decently portrayed his part…nothing artificial about it! 🙂

KD, the killer drummer…now works for his dad in his jewellary business…loves to flirt and listen to live bands…single ready to mingle…owns a jeep….hasn’t touched the drum sticks for 10 yrs…is the jester in the movie! Purab has enacted his role which is very close to his own self, but sometimes he’s overacted…seems like he’s inspired by the role of Sameer played by Saif Ali Khan in Dil Chahta Hey (DCH). But he keeps the humor quotient up and running!! 😀

10 yrs hence…they get back together, thanks to Sakshi…and the rest of the story is all about how they give their last concert together as the rock band “Magik”!! 😀

Kudos to both the female leads….Prachi and Shahana…they have portrayed their roles to the hilt…loved the facial expressions on Shahana especially!! 🙂
Kudos to the director Abhishek Kapoor….for maintaining the Rock-concert feeling throughout the rock-concert shots!! 😀
About the music….kudos to the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio…loved all the songs….favorites being “Socha hai”, “Rock on”, “Pichle saath dinon mein”, “Ye tumhari meri baatein”…in that order…and the other songs too!! 😀

A must watch is all I can say….and as displayed on the 70mm screen “Do not download the music…buy the CD”!! 😀

Once out of the multiplex, the next pit stop was the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) near the Bessy Beach…Not facing the beach we thought was disappointing…but once inside, there were disappointments all over…we ordered…the items were served at our table…AC was on, but where we sat it was close to an expresso in terms of warmth…and before I could order another coffee (have this habit of not stopping at one mug), the dude handed over the bill…but that didnt stop me…hehe…ordered for a black coffee…parked ourselves for another half hour till we were asked “any more orders sir?” which actually meant “if nothing else you need, pls be on your way out”!! 😈

We then headed to our next favorite haunt….Bessy Beach….2-3 hours we sat…at one place….and what we talked on deserves a fresh new post altogether! Moreover, this already seems to have become a long post! 😉

Ram Gopal Verma (RGV) is back with his new movie “Phoonk” which got released last friday…Last heard (with RGV, you never know! 😉 ), it’s a movie about superstitions and is supposedly under the “Horror” genre of movies. Being the creative one, RGV promised to pay Rs. 5 lakh (500,000) as a prize to that person who would watch Phoonk in a theatre ‘ALL ALONE’. As per RGV, Phoonk is a horror movie of the kind that will-for-sure get on to the nerves and hence he threw open this challenge which ended on 18th August. One brave soul took up this challenge and is believed to have come out of the theatre in half an hour flat.

Now the question is, was Phoonk that scaringly spooky or was it simply unbearable (remember RGV’s Aag?? 😛 )???? YOU NEVER KNOW…If anyone among you have taken up the challenge to even watch Phoonk, Let me know your thoughts!! 🙂

BTW, heard that another brave soul in Bangalore has decided to watch Phoonk tonight at 10 all alone at INOX and he has booked the entire 225+ seater for himself by paying close to INR 48K!! All the best to him, and to RGV too…hehe!! 😉
I have not watched this movie yet (and don’t know if I will) but I certainly won’t be watching it alone, like I did the last time with RGV’s Sarkar Raj!! Period. 😈

Web2.0 or the social networking/user-generated content era is the latest to take over the virtual world. But do we have the Cyber law to curb the misuse of the technology?
The article gave an example (most probably, a real one) of a teen gal getting to know a guy online through one or more of the various social networking mediums (mostly Chat sites) and then how she unsuspectedly gets entangled into the trap of sexual predators which finally leads/forces her to commit suicide.

Questions asked were:
1) Should not our lawmakers analyse the impact Web2.0 has on society and prescribe educational programmes for teenagers as well as educate individuals, mainly the teachers and parents of teenagers about the possible dangers of social networking?
2) Do we have a legal system to deliver justice to people like the teen gal in the above said instance or even to book the guy?

What’s your take on this?

On one side, we see and experience the many advantages that Web2.0 has to offer us to build and maintain a social network, but on the other side, we have certain elements which bug the entire possibility of a clean virtual environment.
Now with the social interaction going to be boosted up soon with the arrival of Web3.0, I guess its time for the law makers to put the laws into ‘real’ action.!!

What are the Indian Cricketers up to?? Man…they seem to be so confused with the whole process of playing cricket of different formats. With T20 totals in One-day matches and One-day totals in Test Matches, they seem to be heading no where. Moreover the fear factor in them about the tactics of the Lankan spin duo of Mendis and Murali seems to be reaching greater heights match after match. No idea what happened to the idea of Indians being better players of spin bowling!! Sigh!

The Men-In-Blue (MIB) are known to make heroes out of puppets…Remember the West Indian Franklin Rose? That chap got hammered and clobbered around the park at the hands of other teams whereas he came up with a 5-wkt-haul, each time he played against us. Ok…Remember Aaqib Javed, the Pakistani speedstar?? He was specially played only against the Indians and each time we didn’t disappoint the Pakistani selectors as we gifted him a bunch of wickets just like in a promised package deal! 😉
The list continues…and so does the ‘fear factor’ of our well-nourished, well-branded and well-advertised cricketers. Hmmph!

I have always been a Taurean, I have always read the sun-sign predictions and I have been amazed by the indifferences between what is on paper and what actually happens, always.

Check this out…this was last Saturday:
1) Good day to share work and responsibility with your peers: Sadly such things are said about me only on weekends! 😉
2) Accidental benefits are indicated: I didn’t understand this clearly until a bus just whisked past the car when I was driving…My Dad who was in the front seat, yelled (am still not sure, it was at me or the bus driver!!) though this wasn’t indicated!! 😀
3) Your love life will be good: Ahem…he didn’t know I was single, did he? Hmmph! 😳
4) Don’t give into emotional pressures when making financial decisions: Early morning as I reached Bangalore, my cousin called up to remind me of the pending treat I had to give him! I have been evading him for more than 2 months, but the emotions finally got over me and I agreed to his request. So Sue’s Garden (A Caribbean Restaurant in Indiranagar, Bangalore) it is for lunch on Sunday…Ms. Sue, here we come! 😀

Lost in thoughts I accelerated on…
She was driving upfront; I followed, we moved on!
One look at her a month ago, I wanted to be her friend…
But for now applied the brakes, I had reached the dead end!! 😦

She was standing on the shores of the beach…
So beautiful, that she did look out of my reach!
The breeze played with her hair so lovely…
A look at her that day, made me feel no more lonely! 😀

A week ago, saw her standing by the traffic light…
She looked like the just bloomed sunflower, so bright!
Waiting to cross the road, she looked left and right!
And that day as I looked at her, mind said ‘what a sight’! 😉

Yesterday, met her by the coffee shop across the beach road…
She spoke less and smiled more just enough to take me overboard!
She passed on a chit, promising to meet me this weekend…
It was just the beginning…at the dead end!!

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Me! Myself! Moi!

Though unaware, I'm usually up to something. I'm an ex-introvert who talks more than he write and writes more than he's capable of. I try to make light of everything, for I believe that I'm stuck in a dark tunnel.
All said and done, I named this blog space as 'All in the Mind...', for the very lack of it.